Pregnant smokers offered vouchers to quit

Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to quit if they are offered shopping vouchers, according to a study.

Researchers studied 612 women over 16 and less than 24 weeks’ pregnant to assess whether financial incentives would help them quit the habit.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, suggested up to 5,000 miscarriages a year could be attributed to smoking during pregnancy, along with hundreds of still-births, and infant deaths.